Documentaries
- 2. Definition of a documentary • The purpose of a documentary is to document something, to report with evidence something that has actually happened. • It shows this by using Actuality Footage or reconstructions. • Documentaries are always factual.
- 3. Types of documentary • Fully-Narrated – An off-screen voiceover is used to make sense of the visuals and dominates their meaning. It Anchors the meaning of the visuals. • Fly-on-the-wall – The cameras record subjects without interference, and viewers come to their own conclusions. The cameras are always unobtrusive.
- 4. Types of documentary • Mixed – Uses a combination of interview, observation and narration. Uses archive material and literary. • Self-reflexive – When the subjects of the documentary acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the documentary makers.
- 5. Types of documentary • Drama documentary/Docudrama – A re- enactment of events as they are supposed to have happened. • Docusoap - Combines elements of documentaries and soap opera genres. Revolves around the same “characters” each episode.
- 6. Features of a documentary • Observation – The ‘unseen’ observation places the audience in the role of eyewitnesses to the reality portrayed. The participants do not acknowledge the camera. • Interview – TV documentaries rely on interviews. The speaker/intervieweee does not acknowledge the camera.
- 7. Features of a documentary • Dramatisation – All documentaries use a sense of drama throughout the observation element. These events seem to occur naturally in front of the camera. • Mise-en-scene – Everything that you see in the frame. Shots carefully composed so they contain images they want the audience to see. • Exposition – The line of argument in a documentary. The exposition is what the documentary is saying.